DIALEGOMAI

With the passage of New York's Reproductive Health Act, the debate over abortion has intensified. A popular argument against the Pro Life position is to claim pro life views are "religious" in nature and not to be believed.

This is a fallacious argument on two fronts and while it is a myth that pro life arguments are religious, let's address the idea head on.

First, to say "you're just religious" is an Ad Hominem. It's like calling someone a "racist" to shutdown a conversation. Whether or not someone is religious has no bearing on the truth or falsehood of an argument.

Second, to say an argument is religious is a genetic fallacy - that is - claiming an argument is false because of where it comes from. The argument stands or falls on it's own merits, not those of the person making the claim. To say you cannot read religious websites or trust religious arguments is to ignore the argument itself and disengage. This is intellectually dishonest and is a tactic that goes beyond the abortion issue in our society. You must deal with the facts of any argument and the fact is the RHA expands late term abortions that were previously prohibited by NY state law.

This is part one of a two part series on the passing of New York's Reproductive Health Act.

The recent passing of New York state's Reproductive Health Act has caused an uproar between Pro Choice and Pro Life advocates. There is much confusion as to what the bill actually says and does.

The fact checking web site, Snopes, has posted an article fact checking the claim from Pro Life advocates that the bill allows abortion up to term. So did Snopes get this one right? Here's what they did get right:

First, it strips abortion from the state’s criminal code and places it entirely within the realm of public health law.

Second, it expands who can perform the procedure from beyond just physicians to any licensed, certified or authorized health care practitioner for whom abortion is within their scope of practice.

Finally, it legalizes abortion after 24 weeks in cases where it would protect a woman’s health or where a fetus is not viable. State law previously only allowed abortions after 24 weeks if the woman’s life was in jeopardy.

Some have cited this as a slam dunk on Pro Life advocates who claim the bill allows for unrestricted abortion up to term. But the truth is, the term "health" is ambiguous in the bill and is separated from "life" as a different scenario. Health can mean anything from Gestational Diabetes to Pre-eclampsia. It can also be used to mean anything health related - from mental stress to economic strain.

​Jay Watts, president of Merely Human, Inc. believes those who do not think the bill would be used in that manner have not read the bill and do not understand current abortion law.

It shows people don’t understand abortion law in the U.S. The third trimester considerations in Roe were set aside in Doe v Bolton’s absurdly broad health exception back in 1973. That exception goes beyond physical health and life of the mother and includes emotional, financial, and familial health. Planned Parenthood v Casey reaffirmed the exception in 1992 while abandoning the trimester system for a viability standard. This means that New York both affirmed the health exception while simultaneously eliminating all other considerations for the unborn in their state penal code. They also opened up the possibility of heightened allowances for PA’s to participate in performing abortions. ​

In short, the bill actually expands the ability for late term abortions for all of the reasons abortions are performed in every state. The previous law which restricted late term abortions to only those scenarios that put the mother's life in danger (which are less than 2% of all abortions performed annually) has now been expanded to include the mother's health which is not more specifically defined in the bill. The bill also defines a "person" as someone who has been born and is alive. This is not a scientific statement, but rather a metaphysical one which the NY state legislature has no authority to make.

So the fact is, the Reproductive Health Act expands abortions in the state of New York to include late term abortions where as previously, New York state law restricted late term abortions.